Sodexo announces plans to source only cage-free eggs

International foodservice firm Sodexo has announced that it will source only cage-free eggs globally by 2025.

Compassion in World Farming (CiWF) has been campaigning for over 50 years to rid farming of all forms of cages and Sodexo is among several UK major retailers that have pledged to sell cage-free eggs.

While the majority of non-consumer facing food service companies have yet to make the shift, there is a rise of support for cage-free eggs among consumer-facing brands. Pub chains Greene King and Mitchell & Butlers were among the latest to receive a Good Egg Award from CiWF this year for committing to going cage-free on whole eggs.

Long-time leaders in this sector include Pret and Subway, which are free-range not just on their whole eggs, but on every single egg ingredient served in their UK stores.

Abbie Gregory, CSR director at EIPC (the purchasing consortium for Subway), said: “We made our decision to go cage-free back in 2007 and we’re proud to have been at the vanguard of the movement.

“Today we are completely cage-free on all our whole and ingredient eggs across our entire European operation. Getting buy-in from all our stakeholders was pivotal and having support and recognition from third-party organisations like Compassion underpinned our conviction that this was the right thing to do, both for our business and the welfare of the hens.”

CiWF is calling on the foodservice sector to make clear policy commitments across their entire egg supply, including eggs in cakes.